Staying in Compliance with Air Quality Regulations

Does your facility have an air quality permit? If
so, when was the last time it was updated? If your facility is not a major
source of emissions, you may have an air permit with no expiration date. This
can lead to situations where the air permit is 10 years, 15 years, or even
older. Have facility operations not changed at all during that time? Has new
equipment been installed? Are you sure that new boiler/oven/paint booth/etc.
that was installed was truly exempt from an air quality permit? When was the
last time the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) or your State’s
environmental agency inspected your facility? If you are a major source of
emissions, you probably see your inspector annually, but if you are not a major
emitter, the inspections can be much more random and infrequent.

There are few manufacturing facilities that are
exempt from operating without an air quality permit. Even an exempted facility
could trigger air permitting requirements as a result of a modification. Before
any modification that affects air emissions is started, a revised air quality
permit application is required to be submitted to State or federal agencies.
The term “modification” means any change in or alteration of fuels, processes,
operations, or equipment which affects the amount or character of any air
pollutant emitted, or which results in the emission of any air pollutant not
previously emitted. Even if the modification meets your environmental agencies
permit exemption thresholds, most of these agencies still request a No Permit
Required determination to be made.

Fines for non-compliance with air quality
regulations are some of the highest in the environmental sector. The EPA can
assess civil penalties of up to $37,500 per day, per violation with total
penalties up to $295,000. Fines can increase further with approval from the
Department of Justice (DOJ). Furthermore, the EPA can assess criminal penalties
against individual employees for criminal violations of the Clean Air Act
(CAA). In 2018, there were 10 CAA Civil Cases. The settlements ranged from $300,000
to $25,000,000. For minor source permits, the EPA is typically not involved
with violations, instead the State agency issues the orders and monetary
penalties. In 2018, both the Georgia Environmental Protection Division (GAEPD)
and the Alabama Department of Environmental Management (ADEM) issued 42 Air
Quality Administrative Orders, each. The GAEPD and ADEM typically issue fines
ranging from $3,000 to $15,000 for failures to submit permit applications for
modifications, but these fines can increase substantially for repeated
violations and/or exceeding major source thresholds. The quantity of citations
and range of fines can vary widely from state to state. For example, the
California Air Resources Board (CARB) issued 1,650 enforcement actions in 2017
with total penalties exceeding $17,000,000.

The majority of the enforcement actions with
monetary penalties are the result of deviations from required reporting, failed
emission compliance tests, or items discovered during inspections (e.g.
unpermitted equipment, missing records, violations of visible emission
standards). Deviations from reporting or compliance tests are often known by
the facility who in turn, notifies the EPA and/or State of the deviation;
therefore, responding to the violation can often be an easier task than
preparing for an inspection. Inspections are typically unannounced. An
inspection by an EPA or State air quality inspector will check the following
during an evaluation:

Does the facility’s as-built and operational
parameters, especially air emissions, match the data submitted in the air
permit application(s)?

Is all equipment with the potential for
emissions included in the current air quality permit?

Is the required recordkeeping maintained and up
to date? This can include the previous 5 years of recordkeeping.

Were all notifications, fees, and reports
submitted to the EPA and/or State and in a timely manner?

Is pollution control equipment operated as required?
Are visible emissions (where applicable) in compliance?

Is the facility following applicable work
practice standards?

Can you say for certain that you can show
compliance with those items when the EPA or State is at your facility? To stay
in compliance with air quality regulations, an inspection to address the above should
be conducted periodically by a qualified person familiar with the facility’s
operation, air quality permit, and the applicable air quality regulations. This
can save the facility from costly enforcement actions. Even if compliance
issues are discovered that must be reported to the EPA and/or State,
self-reporting compliance deviations will result in more lenient actions than
if discovered by the EPA or State during their inspection.

For more information on air permit requirements, or if you
would like to discuss how CTI can help your facility maintain compliance with
air permitting, please contact us at www.conversiontechnoloy.com/contact.